In this part, we’ll look at Alyssa’s arguments for why she doesn’t believe in Christianity. To her, Mormonism and Christianity have the same issues…and she only ever mentioned one – sexism. Here are her reasonings:

• That women are supposed to be mothers and be in the home, while men should be making money
• The Bible has over 3200 people mentioned by name, with 181 of those being women who are only ever described within a wife or mother context, not as leaders
• She said the only example of a woman who led was Queen Esther, and according to Alyssa, the only reason she was ever able to be influential was because she “was hot” and the rest of the women are NPCs (non-playable characters, essentially background noise). The value that Alyssa says Esther used to save her people was her beauty
• Mary is only influential because she was pure and a virgin and because she was pregnant with Jesus
• Eve is just second fiddle to Adam and only expected to bear children as a result of her sin (note, she never talks about Adam’s consequence)
• Leviticus 12 says that a woman is unclean for 7 days after giving birth to a boy and 2 weeks after giving birth to a girl
• 1 Corinthians 14 talks about how women should be quiet in churches
• Ephesians 5 tells women to submit (again, she doesn’t mention what the husbands were told to do)

“What a holy book,” Alyssa states after she gives all of these reasonings. “Do I really need to read the whole thing to be like, uh…seems like a really old book that has a lot of pretty outdated ideas in it.” She says humans can do better and come up with better ideas than holding onto a book that talks about women in such a way.

This is where I began to get frustrated – and I am frustrated on Queen Esther’s behalf, especially. Every unmarried girl was brought to the palace, and Esther hid her heritage, knowing that the king would not willingly choose a Hebrew wife and that her outcome would likely be worse if she revealed her heritage. Esther 2 says she “obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her” because she did not rely on external things to shine. Chapter 2 also shows how Mordecai uncovered a plot to kill the king, and Esther delivered the news to the king in Mordecai’s name. Of course, we know Haman tricked the king into decreeing that all Jews be killed. The king had every right to kill Esther when she went to him uninvited – he banished Vashti for less. The Bible says Esther found favor in the king’s sight. But it also uses that phrase in relation to Ruth and Moses, and other individuals in the Bible. It just means that the person found grace or favor – it is not based on the physical appearance. And Esther didn’t save her people just because she was pretty. She was able to save her people by showing that they did not deserve to die, and that the person who wanted them dead was wicked. 

Funnily, after I looked up those numbers, Alyssa used the higher end of the estimation of named men (1,770 to over 3,000) and the lower end of the estimation of named women (185 to over 300). Skewing numbers like that isn’t a great look, but also, I have one small point. How many of these named men are in the book of Numbers? You know, the book with the genealogy that counts male to male in generations? Based on that point alone, I’m not sure that this fact of named men versus named women in the Bible is a great argument. Also, her saying that there weren’t women leaders in the Bible (other than Queen Esther, who was reduced to just being “hot”), Alyssa seems to forget about Deborah (a prophet and judge of Israel), Miriam (a prophetess and helped lead Israel out of Egypt), Huldah (a prophetess who advised King Josiah), as well as others such as Anna, Noadiah, and Philip’s four daughters, among many more. Again, Alyssa is reducing the accomplishments for all of these women to physical, material things – and not letting the women themselves take credit for their accomplishments…which is a very sexist view.

And yes, the Bible does say in Genesis:

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

– Genesis 3:16-19

But again, taking things out of context, Alyssa doesn’t mention that the men are cursed to have to work to survive and provide. Women suffer pain in childbirth. 

And, as you can probably guess, Alyssa only mentions that Ephesians 5 tells women to submit to their husbands. Do you know what the husbands have to do (emphasis mine)?

“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourish and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:”

– Ephesians 5:20-29

Reading the entire passage paints a different picture than just selecting a verse. As you guys know if you’ve been following my blog for a while…context is important. 

Lastly, to Alyssa’s point about uncleanliness after childbirth. It was a ritualistic, cultural uncleanliness. Not that God said childbirth is a sin and is unclean, but blood was seen as unclean (as it still is today). I learned that many women bleed an average of 4-5 weeks after birth, with the first seven days being the heaviest. On the eighth day, a boy was to be circumcised (which is when blood starts making its own clotting factor and vitamin K, but a fun fact). Now, what about the daughter? Why would it be longer for a girl? Because God is sexist? There are two main theories, that 1) the daughter also needed the time for purification, so it was double and 2) sometimes baby girls can have a discharge of uterine blood after birth. In fact, this additional period of uncleanliness was a rest and recovery period for the mother, as she was not allowed to do any cultural or ritualistic events, and could just stay at home and recover without pressure. 

This was a long post, but we’ll wrap up this video next time. Are you convinced God doesn’t exist yet?

If you are not 100% sure that you’ll go to Heaven when you die, now is the time to repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you have any questions or doubts about your salvation, click here to learn how you can be saved!

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Source: https://phyliciamasonheimer.com/levitical-purification-after-childbirth/